Real Life Story

Joseph uses one word on his own to ask for things he wants (such as “Cookie"). One of his goals is to use two words to ask for something. Jessica, a speech and language therapist, has coached Kim, the paraprofessional, to work on this skill with Joseph when he is having snack or lunch with his classmates. The therapist helped Kim by giving her a specific strategy. Rather than taking out what Joseph has in his lunchbox, Kim waits for him to reach for his lunchbox or for him to say, “Juice”. Kim knows what Joseph wants. This is a perfect time to work on his goal of using two words to ask for what he wants. Kim says “want juice” to model language and to encourage Joesph to say “want juice”.

The next day at snack and lunch, Kim waits for Joseph to request what he wants from his lunchbox. Again Joseph says, “Juice.” This time Kim waits a little bit longer and looks at Joseph with wide-eyes and a questioning smile. This gives Joseph the opportunity to independently use two words to request his juice. He looks at Kim, reaches toward his lunchbox and says, “Want juice!”